Long have I developed this website with the intent of serving all content free of charge, and I wish to continue this practice. As a result, however, this website has generated zero direct revenue for me during the last 3 years. Now a graduate student at FSU, paying the bills of life and the bills for the server that runs this website is unsustainable in the long term. While some of you have very graciously donated from time to time, I can no longer keep up. That is, unless something changes. I have avoided ads for years, as I hate them, but they are the only way to generate revenue while simultaneously keeping the website free. Freedom of access has made my model maps page one of the most popular web pages of its kind in the world. The traffic to this site has grown enough that ads may be able to reasonably offset some of my costs.

Following this post, you will begin to see ads at the sides of some pages. They will not interfere with the current layout, and I hope will not be too big of a distraction. For now, only PC users with screens wide enough to fit the ads will see them. I have disabled all ad categories that I deem weird, inappropriate, or otherwise idiotic. If you encounter an ad that disgusts you, please email me about it so that I may consider removing another ad category. Of course, if you simply can’t stand ads of any kind, you can use AdBlock, for which I would not blame you.

Thanks for reading, and I hope some of you will still find this website useful as time marches on.

I understand your reasoning. Sounds good. I’m affiliated with another tropical wx website and we switched to ads about 3 years ago to break even on the costs of running the site.
Tropicaltidbits is a very useful site in season and off season.
Dan

Don’t feel guilty for a second, as a former grad student in meteorology (NC State) I know that money is always tight! Your site is a great way to showcase your technical skills for the inevitable time when you have to apply for a job, and it is a win win because you provide a good service for the weather nerds out there.

Out of curiosity, do you produce these graphics on a Linux box that you personally own, or are resources from school utilized? I imagine they couldn’t be utilized for these purposes.

Thank you again so very much from those of in the Islands who depend on, and appreciate your excellent website. I hope someday you can come visit us here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I’ll guarantee you a free bed if you can make it here. (Even if a hurricane is approaching).
CRS

You know what I think would be a great idea…. if you or someone could “court” those various weather related businesses, services, and manufacturers to advertise as well. It would seem to be an easier sell given their targeted audience is already coming here for information, and frankly most here would be more apt to actually consider purchasing weather radio’s, hurricane supplies from Home Depot or Lowes, Ever-ready batteries, storm chasing tours or storm videos for sale, first aid products, privatized commercial forecasting for weather related/sensitive industries, emergency power, lighting & generators, water purification products, college or schools offering meteorological and environmental degrees, communication equipment, independent claims adjusters, storm clean up services, and a good number more. For that matter, why not pursue a few advertising dollars from FEMA, Red Cross, Goodwill, and other storm related institutions or government agencies as well?

It’s Brandon here of the WilmingtonWx website. If you use GRLevelX at all, you may have heard of it but if not, it’s a little niche site that provides placefiles, color tables, etc. for GRLevelX programs. Anyway, to the point, I support your decision 100% with the ads. I’ve considered this multiple times myself with my own site and many of the points you noted also crossed my mind. In the end, your site will be just as useful as before and will definitely be my go-to model resource!

P.S. I might email you with a few questions I have (regarding a few things about ads, models, etc.)…let me know if that’d be cool with you.

Thanks so much for providing such a great resource for free! I see nothing wrong with serving ads so that you will hopefully be able to at least break even with all your hard work. I hope you even make a bit of a profit :)

It’s ok. Honestly I’ll be running adblock so it won’t affect me, but this is definitely the right move if donations aren’t doing it for you. And the non-adblock users can learn about the hot singles in their areas.

Don’f feel bad at all about having to use advertisements to support your site. You absolutely deserve to earn some money off of your great work on this site but I hope you at least can break even. All I would ask is that the ads that you do include here are not terribly obtrusive with no pop-ups and no autoplaying audio or video content. Good luck going forward.

If it’s the case that you earn more if folks actually click on the ads, let us know. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would show you support by clicking on an ad every now and then.

As long as you don’t start hopping around like a lunatic in the snow after hearing some rumbles of thunder (been NWS CPR WY/SYR NY/ACY NJ/MHX NC there, done-heard that, it’s over-rated), I won’t have a problem with ads popping up on your site. I’ve always been impressed by your meteorological knowledge and the way you present everything in a matter-of-fact manner. Keep up the excellent work, and all the best to you in school.

Hi Levi, Are you going to give your 2015 predictions for the hurricane season? Or did I miss it? You are the cat’s meow when it comes to analyzing the weather. Never in my 58 years on this planet did I know weather across the globe had anything to do with weather around my big head. Hope it is a mild season around South Florida. We don’t need the drama or added work associated with the storms. Don’t want to see the fools waiting till the last moment to stock supplies and empty the stores again. Hope it’s mild everywhere. Hope you post soon, I feel my nerves jumping already ! Thanks Again, Regards, Dave

I’m not bothered by it and I admire your stance on the evil of advertising on the interwebs. I enjoy your sight, as a meteorologist myself, find your perspectives refreshing. However, if I see any ads for a Thigh Master, I may have to rethink my stance.

Levi – very much appreciate your detailed yet simple and understandable explanations of tropical weather. Your site is the best I’ve come across for the layman weather watcher. No worries on the ad choice. Hope you can keep up the site post graduation. I’d hate to lose it.